Shaft-carrier or thill-tug.



PATENTBD APR. 2 ,1904.

1153. SHIRK.

SHAFT CARRIER 0R THILL TUG.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1902.

1V0 MODEL.

away a 1 I WZ/iwsses co, mmumov, WASHINGTON o c thills may be placed in position by simplylay- .ments of the invention, showing a portion of UNITED STATES Patented April 26, 1904.

PATENT O FICE.

DAVID B. SHIRK, OF ELIZABETHTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

SHAFT-CARRIER OR THlLL-TUG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 758,566, dated April 26, 1904;.

Application filed May 16, 1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown' that 1, DAVID B. SHIRK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elizabethtown, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Shaft Carriers or Thill-Tugs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in a sh aft-carrier or thill-tug of that class in which a metal strap or strip is provided at one end with a buckle for attaching to a tug or carrier strap of a harness-saddle and having its other end coiled in a diagonal fold, forming an opening between the coil and straight portion thereof, through which opening the shaft or thill is placed or dropped into said fold, and in which provision is made to have attached thereto one end of a strap, with its other end adapted to have buckled thereto the adjacent end of a harness belly-band.

The object of the invention is the production of a simple, convenient, and eflective thill-tug or shaft-carrier whereby shafts or ing or dropping them therein instead of being pushed endwise therethrough, thus avoiding the backing of the harnessed animal or the drawing of the vehicle forward when hitching up.

The elements of the invention will severally and at large appear in the following description, and they will be separately or combinedly pointed out or set forth in the appended claims.

The purposes of the invention are attained by the mechanism, devices, and means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, similar reference characters designating like parts throughout the several views, in which- Figure 1 is a detached fullside elevation of a shaft-carrier or thill-tug embodying the elea shaft or thill in place; Fig. 2, a view from the right of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a top View of the portion below the line 00 m in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4, aplan of a flat blank ofthe buckle and Serial No. 107,619. (No model.)

fold-strap punched from sheet metal; Fig. 5, a plan of a similar blank madeof malleable iron, and Fig. 6 a sectional elevation taken on the line 3 y in Fig. 5.

In the drawings, A designates the completed thill-tug or shaft-carrier, Figs. 1, 2, and 3. This comprises a metal strap of approved dimensions having at its upper end a buckle a, with a tongue a for attaching to the strap of a harness-saddle. (Not shown.) Extending from the buckle is a practically straight portion of, having at its lower end, curving slightly to one side, a somewhat screw-coiled or diagonally-folded-over portion a for holding or supporting the thill or shaft, with a diagonal or open space (4* between said straight and folded-over portions for the passage of the shaft or thill to within said latter portion or therefrom, while on the straight portion is a loop-eye a for receiving or holding said harness-saddle strap, and on the under side of the fold is an eye or loop a for attachingabellyband strap.

In Fig. 4 is shown a blank or strap punched from suitable sheet metal, having at its upper end a buckle rim or frame 1, from which extends a straight portion 2, curving at the desired point into a diagonal portion 3 and having in its body orifices or holes 4:, 5, and 6, said strap being bent, fashioned, or shaped as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, with the orifice 4: adjacent to the buckle-framel, the orifice 5 a prescribed distance below, and the orifice 6 practically at the lower end of the curving portion. Through'the orifice 4 is hooked or hinged the lower end of the tongue a, completing the buckle a. Through the orifice 5 is secured, as by riveting, the loop-eye a with a disk plate or washer a between the eye and strap, and through the orifice 6 is secured in a similar manner the eye or loop a, with a disk plate or. washer a therebetween.

In Fig. 5 is shown a similar strap made of malleable iron by casting, having the buckleframe 1, the straight portion 2, and the diagonal portion 3, with the orifices 4 and 5 in its body, the same as the strap before mentioned; but in this instance the belly-band-securing loop or eye a is formed at the time of casting, (best shown in Fig. 6,) and this strap is also fashioned or shaped as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, with the buckle-tongue a and the eye or loop a secured in the same manner as in the strap shown in Fig. 4.

Now the hereinbefore-described parts occupying the respective positions indicated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 and the completed carrier A, by means of the buckle a, attached to the usual thill-strap of a harness-saddle, (not shown,) an inspection of the figures clearly shows that when a horse is to be hitched between shafts to a vehicle the horse is placed in proper position before it, its shafts having been raised. The horse having been so placed, the shafts are lowered, one on each side of the horse, and the carrier A turned so as to bring its diagonal open space a in line with the respective shaft, when said shaft through said open space is readily dropped or placed in the position indicated, the folded-over portion overlying the shaft, serving to keep it in place, and through the same slot by reversing the process said shaft is just as readily lifted or removed from the carrier.

The invention having thus been ascertained and described and the manner in which its functions are performed fully shown and set forth,

eye near the buckle end of said straight portion, with a belly-band-strap-securing eye underneath said folded-over portion at the side curving end thereof, substantially as described and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

2. In a shaft-carrier or thill-tug, a metal strap having a straight portion with a buckle at its upper end and a side coil at its lower end with a diagonal open space between the coiled and straight portions with a loop provided for securing a belly-band strap, substantially as described and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' DAVID B. SHIRK. Witnesses:

PAUL A. I'IERR, DANIEL H. HERB. 

